I'm Running in the Rain

Jodi finally got back home and we were able to resume our running...well, almost. We decided to meet at Terry Hershey Park for the first time.
As I was turning on Memorial (near my old house), I remembered getting drunk off Boones Strawberry wine with some friends at this very park. Only I don't remember it being such a big park. We were just getting drunk by the playground at night. Don't judge me, I was young. And sorry mom if you are reading this post.

I got there alittle early and decided to snap some pictures of our new running place when I noticed the sky getting darker and uglier.



Now, this happened before, but Jodi and I were blessed with just cool weather and no storm. Not this time around. As soon as Jodi got there, the winds picked up. I got a cool video of the tree barely surviving the wind
.

We did a quick stretch to try and beat the rain. I left my camera in the car, but Jodi brought her camera phone. I got some pretty shots of the little stream. This park is so cool.
We chose to go the opposite route we had originally planned, because the clouds were much darker down that way. By the time we got under the overpass, the rain started. We forged on like good little runners, but then quickly turned back to take refuge under the overpass. The winds were too much and blowing stuff in our eyes. At first I thought we were just a bunch of wussies since we were the only ones trying to survive Tropical Storm Terry-Hershey, but more and more people started to show up. This lady almost ate it, while trying to walk two dogs and only one shoe. This biker kept going, but quickly turned around.

After about 10-15 minutes of being huddled up for dear life under the pretty overpass bridge thing, the rain eased up or shall I say the wind eased up. So, we decided to start our run. We walked to this really pretty bridge area, which we walked, as well since you should always think about safety when running. It's not cool to run on a wet wooded bridge. We saw the run group that are there every Tuesday evening, but I guess they were either early or we just spent more time under the overpass than we thought. As soon as we made it past the bridges (yes, there were two), we started to run...finally. The rain was coming down, but not too hard (not yet at least).

There were inclines in our run and we got to see some duckies. Oh and this lady with very short running shorts wizzed past us only to give us a great view of her butt cheeks flabbing under the shorts. EWWWW. We decided to turn around and go back the way we came since the rain and wind were getting stronger. Jodi commented on how she loved to run in the rain. I was okay with it, but I had a white T-shirt on and a white sports bra. Plus, Umbros are not fun to wear when they are soaking wet. Another negative to running in the rain is that I felt like I was going to slip and fall at any minute. We took outside loops instead of just going straight back the way we came just to add more of a run. Again, our run stopped so that we could walk along the wet bridges. The rain was easing up, but I was pretty much done with this run.

We think we hit a mile, but not totally sure. At least some exercise is better than nothing. I did hike up my shorts like that lady just to show what Umbros do when went. They stick to your legs. We said our goodbyes and got in my car to go home...all soaking wet. Jodi said that the rain was pretty much gone after I left and she did more running. Like I said, I was done. I did get this picture as I was leaving of a really cool rainbow in the distance.
Tonight, will be better even though I am on slightly no sleep due to excessive goodby partying last night.

Weekend Exercising

Well, Jodi left and I pretty much deterioted into a no exercising coma all week. I just didn't really feel like it at all. But on Thursday, Mal hit me with the question, "Do you want to run tomorrow morning?" I just couldn't say no. With much arguing about when, we decided to meet at 7:30 a.m. at the dropzone. Unfortunately, that meant I had to get up super early to get everything ready for the weekend. After all my errands and everything, I made it out there by 7:40 a.m.

We both did some stretching and then got on our way close to 8 a.m. We were worried that it was going to be hot, but it wasn't. It was the same 2.2 mile run that I did with her the previous week; however, we added a loop around the neighborhood. This put the run at 3 miles. We started off with a warmup walk and then got to running. We actually made it to the second stop sign, which I have never done before. When we hit the straightaway, I remarked about how Waller can be so beautiful with the early morning dew, noises, and sun over the landscape. It makes for a pretty run. Most of it was run/walk and especially when we hit the turn back into the neighborhood, that was all walk. Well, almost. At one point (nice shaded area), I said, "Let's run to that house about a quarter of a mile." Mal agreed, which meant that we ran a full 2 miles. High-Five for us.

And kudos for us, because both Mal and I got up again to run on Saturday morning. However, I was super sore. I worked my leg muscles so much during my jumps on Friday with Simon (to get ready for the record) and our long run the previous morning made for a difficult time. Immediately, I was hurting in my stomach. At first I thought it was side cramps, but it was not. Apparently, my abs got a work out on Friday. I was actually wishing for side cramps, because at least I can breathe those away...sometimes. Consequently, we only did the 2.2 mile run and it was quite alot of walking. I was still proud that I got up to run two days in a row. That never happens.

I did lots of leg drills on Friday through Sunday to get me prepared for the record. I'm still on probation. I will find out on Friday evening if I get on it or not. Wish me luck!

Houston Dynamo Go For Goal 5K Run

Houston Dynamo is putting on a 5K run in celebration of the World Cup.

The Houston Dynamo will host the 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game at Reliant on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. It will feature the MLS All-Stars vs. Manchester United. In conjunction with the game, the Dynamo will host All-Star Week, which includes a series of events to commemorate the big match.
All-Star Week will kick off Saturday, July 24, 2010 with the Dynamo Charities “Go for Goal 5K Run” and “Dynamo Diesel Kids Fun Run.” The race starts/finishes at Hermann Square in front of the City Hall(Walker & Smith)

Participants will receive an official race T-Shirt and two tickets to the Dynamo game versus the New York Red Bulls on July 31.
The 5K Run is competitive while the 5K Walk & Fun Run is non-competitive and all kids will receive medals. There will be a post-race festival and awards ceremony immediately after the race with food, drink, and live entertainment.
Proceeds will go to Recipe for Success.

It sounds interesting. Plus, you get free tickets to the next game, Dynamo vs. New York Red Bulls. Who can beat that? I can say that I love doing this, because it's for a good cause and it gets me healthy, but I love free stuff.

Heat Waves Boogie at Skydive Houston

At least I ran on Friday morning. I didn't get much running this weekend. We were supposed to all run on Sunday morning at 7 a.m., but that didn't happen. I was up, but not in a running mood per say. I was more in a "Oh my, I have to make this hangover go away" mood.

However, even though I didn't run, I skydived all weekend long. This was the second head down big way skills camp; the last one before the Vertical Texas State Record in a week. I am waiting to see if I get invited. I still have to work on things, but I will be working for sure.

Like my previous post on Head Down skills camp, I worked my muscles and mind. This is why I consider this to be a cross training for my running. My arms and legs and butt are sore as if I did some kind of kickboxing class from Instructor Death. My neck and shoulder is also sore, but that's because I was on a zoo crash jump where someone crashed into me and I then riccocheted into someone else. Oy ve!

I'm not sure about my week in running. Jodi is gone to Los Angeles and we are going to try to run through blue tooths. Yeah, don't ask me. I'm not tonight though, because I am so very tired.

Early Morning Dropzone Run

Since this week was all messed up, I felt I had to run on Friday to make up for the lack of exercising. However, I came to the dropzone last night and knew that I had a good chance of demotivating myself not to run before the big boogie, which starts today. I decided to enlist my friend MaloRee (yes, that's how you spell her name) to run with me. She is home now for good from college and her trips. We have discussed her joining us on our runs or at least just exercising with me for some time. Today was the day, so I told her to be here at 7 a.m. for our run.

At 6:35 a.m., I sent her a text to find out if she was actually going to come since I wasn't going to wake up if she wasn't here. Don't judge me with your judged eyes. She texted me back to say that she was already here. We did some hardcore stretching since I needed it bad and headed out the door. Our run was the same 2.2 mile run that Amy and I did a couple of weeks ago.

This was by far the earliest that I have ever run and it was nice. It's still muggy outside, but it's not dying on the road hot like the afternoon runs that I am used to doing. If anything, this will make me a better runner in the fall. The colder air runs will be a piece of cake with icing on it.

At the stop sign, we started the run. We basically ran/walked the whole thing. Lots of quick stops, which is okay. We even had a sprint in there, as well. I got side cramps really bad again, which only means that I'm in full swing visit mode with Aunt Flow. I don't normally get them this bad.

Thank you to Mal for joining me and my new shorts you bought me. We are going to pick it up for next time. I need to toughen you up for Africa.

The 5 O'Clock Hour Run

There's a reason why no one is running during the middle of a Texas summer between the hours of 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. (okay, really anytime between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.). And the magic reason is that it's UNBELIEVABLY HOT. I'm not talking just hot, I'm talking Africa Hot, scraping my skin off the sidewalk with a spatula hot. So, I deemed myself a moron and continued on without dying somehow.

Now, let me rewind to why I was running at this time and by myself, if you haven't guessed. My uncle came into town last week, but called me last night (yeah, I yelled at him, too) to go out for drinks with the family and to what I found out later to celebrate my cousin's birthday and graduation (yeah, I yelled at them, too). Consequently, I had to cancel on Jodi last night. In fact, the whole training schedule I put up on Tuesday has been thrown out the window. I'm probably going to have to cancel this evening, too. We will use that for next week.

So, I got home about 5:30 p.m. and decided to squeeze in a quick run before I head out for dinner. Quick run?! Ha! I laugh at that oxymoron. I planned to just to do that 1.4 mile run by my house since I knew it well and that I can get it done. I didn't count on the heat, the blazing sun, seeing mirages on the desert type heat.

I did a quick leg stretch, got my ipod all ready, and started my warmup walk around the back area of my house before my starting point. Since I had heard alot of ACDC these last couple of weeks, I decided to try something different. I put on Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift Soundtrack. I remembered how this soundtrack really helped me, while I worked out to get away from the stress at my IBM job (when I worked like 50-60 hours a week). And yes, I love Tokyo Drift, but I hated the other Fast and the Furious movies with the very bad acting (especially the second one). Tokyo Drift had a cooler plot and it was all about drifting...in parking lots. Moving on...

I started my walk and as the music moved, so did my hips and some dips. This soundtrack always makes me move my hips ala Shakira style. So, I got alittle more exercise. However, I immediately got a side cramp. Stupid heat, stupid hip moving, stupid whatever excuse I can come up with to use. When I got to the sidewalk and passed the little construction zone, I started my run. I was on a roll. I felt faster, I was moving to the music. I was trying hard to ignore that stupid side cramp and eventually, it worked. What I didn't realize was that the starting point was pretty much in the shade. When I rounded the corner halfway to the turnaround, the sun hit me and hit me hard like five shots of Jagermeister. All of sudden, my pace slowed and all I wanted to do was just stop, drop, and roll into a fetal position asking, "Why God have you forsaken me?". But I persevered. I focused on just making it to the turnaround point and the music, but I couldn't help but notice that I was the only moron out there doing anything. Even the kids weren't out.

Most of the run was all in the sun; I was so happy to hit a patch of trees with shade even if I passed through it like a small Texas town. But as luck would have it, the clouds covered the sun and gave me some relief. I felt my pace speed up just alittle bit. So, I kept running and running I did. I managed to make it farther than I ever have. The sun was coming back out from under the cloud and all I kept thinking to keep me motivated, "make it to there so I can get some shade." I made it to the stopsign and kept going. When I hit a big patch of shade, I stopped. I had to walk and I walked (shaking my hips some more) until I hit the next stopsign. I started to run again, but didn't last long. All the beginning part of the run was now sunny, but still had more shade than what I just went through. I was done and coudln't run anymore. I walked the rest of the way home for a nice cooldown.

Even though, it wasn't my best run since I think I did that in about 20 minutes, I still did it on my own and ran the farthest that I have ever ran for that little neighborhood run.

Tonight, I will either run that run again with Jodi or by myself or not at all. I have so much to do for the Heat Waves Boogie this weekend at Skydive Houston. Be there or be lame!

Galveston Sand Crabs 5K and 10K

There is a possibility that we may end up doing the Houston Half Marathon in October, because of the lottery system implemented for the Chevron Houston Marathon in January (meaning, we may not go). So, Jodi and I are scouting for 10Ks around Texas to get me prepared. We both really enjoyed the Galveston Sand Crabs 5K and 10K Run since it's at night and they will have a beach party thing afterwards. Amy said she would like to go, as well and we can just make it a girl's night. We run, we party, and we go to our hotel. Sounds like fun to me. Who's with me?

Mom, you up for practicing your night photography?

My First Official 5K!

Saturday morning, June 12, 2010, was the morning of my first official 5K (Woodland's 5K series ). I was super excited about it and even got some butterflies in my stomach like when I played in my first basketball game or my first skydiving competition. I had run three miles before, but this was different. We were going to be timed and I was running with lots of other people besides Jodi, Jules, or Amy.

I stayed with Jodi on Friday night since the run was by her house. The thought was that we could sleep in a little more and get to the race early. As a surprise since she said she couldn't make it, my mother, Kandace Heimer came out to take pictures (a great photographer, website). That was an awesome show of support on her side, but that's how she rolls. She has always been to my big sporting events whether it was a basketball game or my first big National Skydiving competition last October (doubt she will come to Chicago this year). I told her that she will need to come to my half marathon. And I'm glad my mother did come, because Jodi's boyfriend, Lucky was supposed to be there to take pictures and get us Gatorade. He didn't get there in time so they wouldn't let him park in the school since we were running and all within the school area.

Our plan was to get there 30 minutes early to stretch and warm-up; however, that plan didn't go quite so well. My mother was calling me to yell that they were starting and that we would miss it. But we finally got there with five minutes to spare, which gave us barely any time to stretch. There was no warm-up walk. Since Jodi and I practiced the two laps around the school as the warm-up, I assumed we would do the same. Yeah, not so much. When they started, they started...running. Holy Snikes Batman, I was not ready. My mother is yelling at me, "Go kristi, what did you think this was?"

Most of the runners there were actual runners that do this quite a lot. Us (me)...not so much. We kept a nice, easy pace throughout. We rounded the two laps (my mother was there throughout the run taking pictures like a ninja with
that camera) and headed out. Another slight difference was that we practiced going to the right after we got out of the school parking lot; the run was actually to the left. Everything felt so off. Our pace stayed pretty good though and we only stopped for a quick walk twice. One time, I had to stop, because I was cramping really bad in my side. I couldn't shake it. The second time we stopped, we went up this steep incline (yes, it was) to a bridge and I thought my legs were going to collapse. Jodi pushed me on saying, "just make it to the bottom of the bridge." And I did, but I had to stop for a quick walk. Both walking points were only 10 seconds. After the second walk stop, Jodi told me that we were going to run the rest of the way back. Wait, What? That is a long way back. She is such an evil fairy. Sometime throughout the run, I started getting hot and had to take off my shirt.

When, we got to the end of the run, Jodi pushed me to run harder for the last little sprint to the finish line. She came in 40th place and I came in 41rst place. It wasn't last place, so I'll take it. They put our place number on these little popsicle sticks, but I was really wanting my finish time. I wasn't sure what our total time was, because we never kept time before. I at least know it was under 40 minutes since the race was completed with all runners within 45 minutes. They were supposed to post the results, but I haven't found them yet online. We also did a great deal of stretching at the end to make up for the lack of stretching in the beginning. And I needed it. I didn't realize how sore I was until I got back to the dropzone and was piddling around for an hour. I should have jumped.

I'm so happy that I was able to accomplish this and it was the longest run that I have ever done. It was also the most running that I have ever done. I am getting stronger every session; however, I still hate running though.

Thanks to Jodi for being the evil fairy that she is with the whole training pushiness; it really keeps me going. Thanks to my mother, the awesomist, award winning photographer for showing up and providing all the pictures on this post (and hopefully many more to come).

June 10, 2010

The euphoria from our great Memorial Park run was over. Last week, there was no traffic, I found a spot quickly to park, and it wasn't packed. Let's see, there was an accident on the exit right after the exit for Memorial Park. Now, it wasn't a parking lot on the Katy Freeway, but it was stop and go, stop and go. However, the exit was a parking lot. I even had time to stop and text, because we weren't even moving. When I finally got up to the front (which is a yield), the car in front of me started going without looking. I almost witnessed an accident. I made it to the parking area and there was nothing. One car parallel parked so bad that they made it impossible for two cars to be parked in front or behind their car. Maybe that was the point, but it sucked nonetheless. I saw two open spots, but obviously the cars didn't learn about how to properly park their car. The cars on each side of the space were crossing the lines, which made it difficult for my little car to actually fit. By the time I got to the third empty space with the same scenario, I went for it anyways. I just parked my car alittle out of the lane so that it would fit. I guess the fact that we were on the brink of a massive storm scared people away last week, because the park was packed last night.

I got there early, but Jodi said she was going to head out early, as well, because traffic was so bad. So, I turned my ipod on to Monster Ballads and stretched and worked out. I was also people watching. A thought occurred to me, "Do these people just come here to be seen or are they really here to work out?" My little workouts included chair dips (for the arms), crunches, side crunches, some leg thing that I saw this muscle guy do, and planks. I noticed this guy with a weird body as if he had been in the sun too long and he worked out so much that his body didn't accept it. He just sat there on the corner doing workouts. Oh and I saw this other man with a petticoat of hair on his back. Gross.

Finally, Jodi showed up. I didn't yell at her about stretching, because I had a birthday thing to go to last night. We did a warm up walk and started running. I don't know if it's the fact that it was 102 with a heat index of 105 or that I'm about to get my monthly visit from Aunt Flow, but I could barely run the mile. I made it to the mile marker and had to stop for water. I kept going afterwards, but I constantly had to stop. As a result, it was a longer run than last week. I stopped alot to walk. But Jodi did notice that my run pace has picked up. Kudos to me. Somewhere around the two mile marker, I took off my top and so did Jodi. We had our sports bras on; so didn't get all excited. I normally don't do that, but it was just too hot.

We made it back to end and did a short cool down walk. I went to my car to grab my clothes, we did a quick stretch (weird body guy was still there doing the same workout), and I headed to the bathroom to change. Putting on your hot work clothes after a sweaty run...well, is just sweaty. Next time, I will be more prepared with better, cooler clothes.

Jodi and I aren't running today, because we are resting for our big 5K tomorrow. Yes, it's my first official 5K at the Woodlands. I'm super excited. I hope my mom can come out to take pictures. I may try to do a yoga thing or skydive today to at least get some simple exercise.

Wish me good luck tomorrow.

Thanks to Jodi

I titled this post, "Thanks to Jodi," even though she sucks for dissing me last night for our run in which I was forced to run alone. I was at Target when she called to tell me that she will be working late, but if she gets out in time, she will meet me by my house for our run. However, I knew that I couldn't wait for her, because I will get lazy and not want to run if I sat on the couch for a couple of minutes. Since I had changed earlier into my workout clothes before I went to Target, all I had to do was put on my tennis shoes, hook up my new ipod/ipod holder, stretch, and head out the door.

Now, I haven't done this run in a LONG time. It's a nice little 1.4 mile run and one that I used to huff and puff all the way to completion. I couldn't even run a mile. Last night, was something else and a big accomplishment. I walked away from and around my house in an opposite direction than my normal start point just so I could add a little extra warm-up walk. I put on my compiliation of ACDC and pushed PLAY to start the run.

By the way, nothing gets you more in the mood to do anything, especially exercising than listening to ACDC's Who Made Who. It's such a song to get you pumped up.

When I got to the sidewalk (mind you, this is still before my starting point), I started to run. I had to stop two times for a quick second to fix the volume on the ipod (going upwind resulted in hearing the wind more distinctively over the music) and to let a car go. But I ran all the way until I hit the turnaround point and then some. Usually by this point, I would have already stopped maybe four times for walking time. Not this time and something that kept me motivated to keep on going. I at least ran a mile before I stopped for a quick walk and then I picked it right back up again. Everytime I hit my short goal point (where I thought I should start walking), I blew through it. I even ran through my end point where I finally stopped when the sidewalk changed pavement for a long cool down walk. I'm pretty sure my run total was 2 miles, but don't quote me on that at all.

So, all in all, I was pretty proud of myself that I could do that when I couldn't do it before. I struggled quite a bit in the beginning before I ever started training with Jodi. I would have easily stopped to walk anytime I felt just alittle bit uncomfortable. But in my defense, I was still battling the foot thing and sometimes I stopped, because the foot was hurting. Also, a reason why I bought running shoes instead of using my Vans. Jodi has made me a better runner and I thank her for the help. But I hate running alone and she better not cancel on me tonight!

I'm not sure where we are running, but I'm going to suggest Memorial Park since we are going to the naughty place with dollar bills for a friend's birthday that's close by there.

On a side, bottom, whatever note, I can see that I have lost weight. I'm actually wearing an outfit that I have not been able to wear since before my foot surgery. My pants still are alittle tight in the tummy area (still working on it), but it's not giving me the massive cameltoe that it did these last couple of months. The corsett (not really) looking shirt now can be buttoned up. I actually gave up on this outfit in Feburary. And I'm okay with wearing this to the strip club tonight, because damn, I am proud!